Behind the myth — money and common sense

Pat Olsen, The Washington Post:

“About half of Americans shopped the weekend of Black Friday last year. ... Ana Serafin Smith of the National Retail Federation says customers will rarely see washers, dryers and bigscreen TVs so heavily discounted. ... Retailers deploy tactics that can make Black Friday discounts seem better than they are: slightly increasing the regular price of an item in the days before the sale, for example, or selling lower-quality versions of an item, such as a television, made specifically for Black Friday.”

Barbara Platts, The Telluride (Colorado) Daily Planet:

“The term ‘Black Friday’ was first mentioned on Sept. 24, 1869, when the U.S. gold market crashed. ... Now the ‘black’ in Black Friday refers to retailers being ‘in the black’ or making a profit. ... According to the Outdoor Industry Association’s 2018 report, only 49 percent of Americans 6 years and older participated in at least one outdoor activity in 2017. ... That means we actually have slightly more people who will participate in Thanksgiving weekend sales than who will participate in just one outdoor activity all year long. That, to me, is a tragedy, especially when it costs so much less to enjoy the outdoors than it does to hunt for bargain deals at a store.”

Bill Tinsley, Times Telegram, (Herkimer, New York):

“Our forefathers knew nothing of this. They hunted and harvested and cleaned and cooked, but they never stood in lines in front of glass doors waiting for the opening bell. They never rushed through aisles searching for treasures that were sure to disappear. They never stood in checkout lines that stretched to the back of the store. Black Friday seems to symbolize our rush through life, our efforts to get the best deal, to be first in line.”